Orban’s right-wing populist party won a fourth consecutive term in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, again gaining a two-thirds majority in the Hungarian parliament. Experts and critics have long argued that Fidesz enjoys an unfair advantage in Hungary, arguing that the electoral system was designed to favor the ruling party and that it also controls much of the media and advertising landscape. In an unusual move for an EU Member State reflecting widespread concern about the state of democracy in Hungary, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) has launched a full-scale mission involving more than 200 observers in Hungary to the elections. The mission found that although there were few procedural problems on election day – which were held in parallel with an anti-LGBTQ + referendum – the contestants did not compete on equal terms. “The parliamentary elections and the referendum on April 3 were properly conducted and administered professionally, but were tarnished by the lack of a level playing field,” the International Election Observation Mission said in a preliminary report released Monday afternoon. “The contestants could largely run free campaigns, but while it was competitive, the campaign was extremely negative in tone and was characterized by a pervasive overlap between the ruling coalition and the government,” the mission found. “The lack of transparency and inadequate oversight of the campaign finances,” observers said, “further benefited the ruling coalition,” while bias and imbalance in news coverage and the lack of discussion among major competitors opportunities for voters to make an informed choice. “ The mission also noted that the way in which many electoral disputes were handled “does not provide effective remedies”.
International observers had raised similar issues in 2018, following the last parliamentary elections in Hungary. Now, many experts and diplomats say the problems have deepened.
“How can elections be free and fair in a state occupied by the ruling party and when a campaign is based on slander and fear?” asked a Western diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The OSCE report, the diplomat said, is “stronger than 2018”. While the OSCE mission was officially in Hungary at the invitation of the national authorities, it had faced public criticism from the government of the country itself. Orban attacked observers in the days leading up to the election, telling pro-government media that “election observation is no longer for observation but for accusation: How can political forces that they do not like but can win be blamed too much? in advance. ” The Hungarian government did not respond to a request for comment on the mission.